Tom Terrific with Mighty Manfred the Wonder Dog

Tom Terrific was an early animated series, created by Gene Deitch under the Terrytoons studio. It would run as part of a series of 5 minutes cartoons on the Captain Kangaroo children’s television show from 1957-1959. From 1959-1962 it was a regular part of the show and then starting in 1962 it would be broadcast alternatively every other week for man years with another Terrytoons creation, Lariat Sam.

The show was simple yet creative. It featured a young boy named Tom Terrific, who with the help of his intelligence boosting funnel/thinking cap, could turn into anything he could imagine. That allowed him to get into all sorts of adventures with his comic sidekick, Mighty Manfred the Wonder Dog. All of the voice work on the show was provided by Lionel Wilson who modern audiences might know as the original voice of Eustace Bagge on the Cartoon Network animated series Courage the Cowardly Dog.

There are quite a few episodes of the show on YouTube and other video sites, but oddly the show has been overlooked for a DVD release. A real shame. Here is the intro from the show.